The present application claims the benefit of and priority to a pending provisional patent application entitled “Method for Fabricating a Frontside Through-Wafer Via in a Processed Wafer and Related Structure,” Ser. No. 60/849,140 filed on Oct. 2, 2006. The disclosure in that pending provisional application is hereby incorporated fully by reference into the present application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of fabrication of semiconductor devices. More particularly, the invention is in the field of fabrication of conductive structures in semiconductor wafers.
2. Background Art
Semiconductor devices, such as bipolar transistors and field effect transistors (FETs) that are fabricated using silicon or gallium arsenide technology, continue to increase in frequency, speed, and power. As a result, current semiconductor devices, such as bipolar transistors and FETs that are fabricated on a semiconductor wafer, also require conductive structures that provide effective, reduced impedance ground paths in the semiconductor wafer on which the devices are fabricated. For example, applications using silicon-based bipolar transistors can require a conductive structure that provides a reduced impedance path between emitter and ground, while silicon-based FETs can require a conductive structure that provides a lower impedance path between source and ground.
Also, current semiconductor devices, such as bipolar transistors and FETs that operate at increased power, also require conductive structures that provide more efficient thermal conduits to transfer heat away from the semiconductor device. For example, silicon-based bipolar transistors having increased power-handling capability can require conductive structures that provide more efficient transfer of heat to prevent excessive heat from damaging the transistor and/or resulting in degraded device performance.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an effective method for fabricating a conductive structure that provides a reduced impedance ground path and a more efficient thermal conduit for semiconductor devices.